help with expanding my setup

[copperpipe]

I'm looking to expand my computer / "home theatre" setup Right now I watch movies and listen to audio through my little mac mini (which is running linux).

Current components:
- 2 channel focusrite scarlett 2i2 (semi-pro audio sound card)
- two emotiva mini-x amps
- two kef r300 bookshelf speakers (vertically bi-amped; one mini-x powers one speaker)
- 28 inch samsung lcd computer monitor

I'm quite happy with audio quality, the weakness in that setup is probably the focusrite since it's a $200 DAC, but is a huge upgraded compared to standard / onboard computer sound cards.

My reason for upgrading is less of "upgrade" and more of "expand"; I want to purchase another pair of kef speakers, probably the r100's and use them for surround. I absolutely will not part with the r300's, they are incredible, and so the r100's are probably a natural fit since they would share a similar sound, with less bass(??).

The focusrite is the immediate problem since I can't send surround sound through it, it's two channel only. In the past, I had a marantz av receiver (sr 5004) which I used in this exact setup, the computer sent the 5.1 audio through hdmi into the marantz which then amplified my rear speakers (at the time, cheap paradigm's) and I used the mini-x's to power the front speakers. Actually I'm uncertain whether I used hdmi or whether I used toslink / digital cable? But somehow VLC (my media player) sent the 5.1 signal to the marantz and it did the decoding there. I'm sure I could figure that part out again. Sort of kicking myself that I sold the marantz.

So step 1 is to get some device / preamp / reciever that can receive 5.1 surround sound and decode the stream into analog output. All my bluray's, dvd's, and cd's are stored digitally on my NAS as either ISO's or mk3 files, but they are full copies, not transcoded or compressed etc. Once I purchase my second set of kefs, I would then either buy another amp, or just use the mini-x's and no longer bi-amp the fronts; or maybe the device I'm looking for is actually a good av receiver in which case I could use the reciever to power the rears.

Can anyone suggest something like this? From my looking around, I'm thinking the umc-200 or the oppo-103 might be a good fit, but I'm open to other good suggestions. I don't need network capability since my computer is networked and I only play media through my computer.

Alternatively, anybody have any experience using a bigger semi-pro audio soundcard, such as a focusrite scarlett-6i6 as the DAC, and being able to feed it surround sound?

[AudioHTIT]

I also have a 2i2 but mostly use it for input to my mini, it's DAC is decent, but bettered by the DC-1. I haven't seen any similar device that will do surround processing, though I don't typically look for that. A used UMC-200 was the first thing that came to my mind as well, something like that will probably be the ticket.

[copperpipe]

Ok thanks, any thoughts on quality of sound when comparing the umc-200 to an oppo or a marantz reciever (just using the pre-amp not the amp)? I don't care too much at this point about video quality, but sound is quite important.

Also, how does one control the volume of the Oppo? And even the umc-200 with the little push buttons, think that is far from ideal. So if my option for volume is a control freak by Emotiva, where does that device go in the audio chain? And does it control all 5.1 channels, or just two channels at a time... ?

[vneal]

I hate the push buttons o the remote and unit for the volume control on the UMC200. Hope the new model goes old school with a volume knob